


Tranquility / Water Lily

by dawnmarionette



Category: Free!
Genre: Cuddling, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, but mostly just the comfort, established… like… if u squint, ikuya has depression and so do i. thanks, vague references to mental health issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-07-01 21:05:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15782112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dawnmarionette/pseuds/dawnmarionette
Summary: After life has strained them too harshly, they settle in like the calm after the storm; water lilies floating on the dark surface.





	Tranquility / Water Lily

**Author's Note:**

> i kept listening to [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE5Oi4fblIE) and Yes Thats The Makoharu Song I Get It Dude I Know but the gay energy it emanates is so powerful

“Hi… yori…” is the whimper that greets Hiyori upon stepping into the near blackness of the bedroom. He’s only been out for a couple of hours, but it’s late enough that Ikuya is usually asleep by now. He opens his mouth to ask if he’s feeling all right but stops when he hears a quiet whine, like Ikuya is in pain. Hiyori’s vision isn’t adjusted to the darkness enough yet to distinguish anything besides an indistinct lump on the bed. Did Ikuya hurt himself while he was gone?

He hears more than sees the sheets shift, and there’s another soft _nh, no-_ before he’s moving forward, closing the distance to Ikuya’s bedside in two long strides.

“Ikuya? What’s wrong?” he says, kneeling. Hiyori can see now that he’s closer that he’s curled up small under the blankets, even though he usually sleeps neatly stretched out on his side. The childlike blanket mound just makes what of Ikuya’s face he can see peeking out appear younger and more fragile outwardly than he usually seems.

“Gone…” Ikuya’s voice is mumbled, like he’s possibly half-asleep and not fully aware of what he’s saying, but that doesn’t soothe Hiyori’s disquiet much.

“What’s gone?” he asks with a little more urgency. Maybe he’s a little more concerned than necessary, but he can’t help it. With Ikuya there is always the possibility, however distant, of his fears rising back up to swallow him whole, with no one the wiser- no one but Hiyori, who knows the darkness always in the recesses of his mind, and has kept watch while Ikuya slept enough times to understand that his struggles are no one’s fault but the monsters that have taken permanent residence in his closet.

“Hiyori,” comes a whispered reply that breaks on the second syllable. Hiyori feels a little pang of worry and fondness, and smooths Ikuya’s hair back from his eyes. They’re squeezed shut, fitfully.

“That’s me,” he says lightly. “I was at the store, but I’m back. Miss me?”

Ikuya looks up at him at that, and it’s heartbreaking to see his eyes misty and unfocused.

Practice this week had been brutal- even moreso for Ikuya, who pushed himself beyond even the extra effort the team was putting in, in one of his single-minded, self-destructive spells of extra laps, introspection and a notable lack of food. Hiyori always tries to force something on him regularly, a granola bar at least, but short of bodily dragging him from the poolside there isn’t much he can do to stop the extra training after Ikuya is done listening to his appeals.

Hiyori hadn’t been surprised when Ikuya crashed hard earlier that evening. It was inevitable, if Hiyori is being honest with himself, so all that’s left is the aftermath. He has a new game lined up to marathon for the weekend, as it promises to be monotonous waiting for Ikuya to recuperate, likely through sleep.

Hiyori hates when the sadness creeps up on Ikuya while’s he’s exhausted like this; it’s unfair how the demons wait till he’s so tired he can’t resist when they recite his worst fears back to him all alone. That’s why, when Hiyori’s eyes adjust enough to see the telltale glimmer of tears waiting to fall where Ikuya looks back at him huddled in his bed, he gives him his gentlest smile.

“I’ll go get you some water, okay?”

Before he can even stand up fully, a hand has appeared from the blanket mass to blindly reach for his hand. It nearly misses, just brushing fingertips against his wrist, but Hiyori stops anyway.

“Ikuya?”

“Don’t…” He sounds pained. “…Had a nightmare. Don’t… go.”

Hiyori kneels again, taking Ikuya’s outstretched hand to brush a featherlight kiss to his fingertips. “Never.”

Ikuya won’t let go of Hiyori’s hand, tugging at him needily. Hiyori is careful climbing on the bed, feeling around so as not to accidentally sit on some part of Ikuya in the pitch dark room, but he makes his way to the other side of the bed somehow, flopping against the pillows with a sigh. He’s drained too, honestly, but he’s been too preoccupied with Ikuya’s questionable decision making the last week to let himself truly relax.

For the first time in god knows how many consecutive days, the muscles in Hiyori’s body begin to unlock when he feels Ikuya shift to rest his head on his shoulder. He lifts a hand to card through Ikuya’s silken hair, and smiles a little into the dark as he feels an almost imperceptible sigh of contentment ghost across the hollow of his throat in response.

“Stay…” Ikuya mumbles. His eyes are sliding shut again, and the tears have fallen in tiny drops to the blankets below to dry away.

“I’m not going anywhere. Go back to sleep.”

“Mmh,” he says unintelligibly. “Sleep… ‘n know you’re tired too.”

Exhaustion is catching up to Hiyori already, so he can’t argue even if he had wanted to. Sinking deeper into the pillows, pulling Ikuya comfortably into the nook against his body, he sleeps.


End file.
